Hazel Eakman is tired of waiting for Fusion Model Management to hand over her fees.
The model, who has appeared in a number of beauty campaigns, including for Kim Kardashian’s KKW Beauty, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty, along with work for Forever 21, PacSun, Amazon and Juicy Couture, told a Manhattan court earlier this week that Fusion Model Management has for years only paid her a portion of her earnings.
Fusion allegedly owed her about $43,000 this year, until she terminated her representation and moved forward with litigation and was “suddenly” paid $14,000, which the agency said was from her most recent Fenty Beauty work in December and work with Sears from earlier in 2017. Eakman said despite consistently booking work with Fusion, this payment “was the single greatest payment” she’d ever received. Eakman is now represented by Freedom Models in Los Angeles.
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While Eakman admitted that Fusion was to take 20 percent of her modeling payments, her three-year contract called for payment to be collected from brands on her behalf with her majority cut to be paid over within 14 business days. But Eakman said she is still waiting to be paid for work from as far back as 2015.
“To date, Fusion has not been paid Ms. Eakman the remaining $28,920 for work she performed while represented by Fusion, dating back to 2015 including money that Amazon, one of the richest companies in the world, has allegedly not paid,” Eakman wrote in her complaint.
She went on to claim that Fusion has indeed received payment for her work with Amazon and other brands but has withheld payment to her. If it turns out that Fusion has indeed not been paid by any of the brands, which has been known to happen in the industry, Eakman said the agency is in breach of its agreement to collect on her behalf and New York’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act, enacted last year.
Eakman is suing for full payment of her outstanding fees, plus interest, as well as breach of contract, good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, conversion and negligence.
A representative of Fusion could not be immediately reached for comment.
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